Get ready for some new eye candy. Tampa International Airport is getting a new dose of public art soon.
Matthew Mazzotta's 21 foot-high flamingo sculpture, titled “HOME,” will soon commandeer the main terminal. The flamingo will be depicted dipping its head underneath water, which is represented by a large piece of resin and fiberglass that also casts a wavy shadow on the floor.
This floor-to-ceiling sculpture is one of the many new commissions approved by the Hillsborough County Aviation Authority Board as part of a public art program designed to enhance and beautify the airport's new facilities. Other parts of the airport getting revamped with public art are the Skyway Atrium (new hanging installations), the northwest wall of the blue vertical circulation building (which is getting a laser-etched mural), and the helix space between the Main Terminal and SkyConnect station which will soon be home to a hanging sculpture made of ladders.
The board just approved these new public art pieces on March 5, so it will probably be while before all seven of the commissions are installed throughout TIA.
In the fall, USF and Tampa International teamed up for a huge artist talk and workshop with American art giant Nick Cave, who hung a 45-by-70-foot, 1,500 pound installment at TIA.
“The artwork should provide a visual respite; a sense of home for returning travelers and a sense of arrival for visitors,” Robin Nigh, the City of Tampa’s Manager of Arts and Cultural Affairs and a member of the airport's Public Art Committee, said in an official statement. “It is unique, quiet, beautiful, kitsch and fun all at once."
Head to tampaairport.com to check out the rest of the new public art pieces heading to Tampa International.
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